The researchers called for a new Google quantum-to-classical computing comparison to newer classical algorithms that could solve in a matter of seconds. The researchers noted that Google’s closed-door experiments were flawed for reasons that included comparing its optimized quantum algorithms against older classical algorithms, which were slower.

Google’s claim of quantum supremacy was again challenged in 2022 by various researchers, including a group from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which tried to investigate the tech giant’s quantum supremacy claims. The IBM paper pointed out that its Summit computer – with additional secondary storage – was able to achieve six times better performance than the one claimed in Google’s quantum supremacy paper, and solve problems in a reasonable amount of time. IBM later in 2019 went on to publish a paper that was aimed at disproving Google’s theory. That claim was immediately challenged by IBM, which said that while Google’s achievement was impressive, it was “being broadly misinterpreted and causing ever growing amounts of confusion.” IBM’s Summit was considered the world’s fastest supercomputer at the time. Google said that its 54-qubit was able to solve specific problems in 200 seconds, which was significantly faster than the 10,000 years it would take classical supercomputers on the same tasks. Google’s controversial quantum supremacy paper in 2019 was based on a 54-qubit system called Sycamore, in which the qubits are arranged in a 2D array. Google in 2019 claimed quantum supremacy, which is a concept based on a 2012 paper by John Preskill of quantum computers outperforming classical computers, which are unable to do similar calculations in a reasonable amount of time. Major cloud providers and supercomputing hosts like Jülich Supercomputing Centre, are still exploring applications that are best suited for quantum computers. But Google’s 49-qubit system outlines a shift in how the company is approaching its quantum research, with a focus on system stability.Ĭurrent quantum computers are seen as being functional but not as reliable as classical supercomputers to carry out massive computations. Quantum companies so far have measured quantum progress by the number of qubits.

Those advanced error-correction features, which were in chips like Intel’s Itanium, are now standard in x86 server chips. Google’s breakthrough is analogous to high-reliability features like RAS – or reliability, availability, and serviceability – which made mainframe computers fault tolerant.

The hardware also has stabilizers to maintain system coherence and qubit stability. The 49-qubit system suppresses more quantum errors by scaling up the size of codes used to maintain predictable behavior. The reliability on Google’s quantum computer hangs on better error correction features. Google is claiming the error-free system opens the door to build larger quantum systems with stable qubits that interact in a coherent fashion. Quantum computers are notoriously unreliable as qubits can easily spin out of control, which can wreck calculations. “For the first time ever, our quantum AI researchers have experimentally demonstrated that it’s possible to reduce errors by increasing the number of qubits,” said CEO Sundar Pichai, in a blog entry last week. Instead, Google’s latest research is along the lines of creating fault-tolerant systems that can withstand the worst of bumps thrown at it. Unlike its past papers on quantum breakthroughs, Google did not claim quantum supremacy (or the more restrained “quantum advantage”), a concept in which quantum computers can significantly outperform classical systems, which are unable to solve similar problems in reasonable time. But the company also found out that it had to sacrifice a lot of quantum performance in order to bring stability to the system. Google said the quantum system offered a combination of fewer errors and better performance than its previous systems. The company said its newest quantum system had error-correction techniques that can generate reliable output with fewer errors. Last week, the company said it had created a stable quantum computer with mechanisms to make sure the system is robust.

Google over the last few years has thrown shade at today’s fastest supercomputers with dubious claims of achieving “quantum supremacy.” The tech giant may be backing away from that approach after its validity was questioned by researchers. Since 1987 - Covering the Fastest Computers in the World and the People Who Run Them

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